Lu Ming

As the last envoy, Andrade didn't see any Ming officials at all this time—whether traditional bureaucrats in robes or officials with short hair under a certain earl.

And the one who handed over the documents to Andrade was just a low-ranking officer with a cold face and a big-brimmed hat.

After slightly bowing his head and maintaining the etiquette that a nobleman should have, Andrade, who took over the documents, walked in the direction of the carriage when the people turned around.

Get in the car, reach out to close the carved car door with beautiful glass windows, and Andrade said to the two servants: "Gentlemen, a long and arduous war is inevitable, if I want to say it. Take back what you see Well, the governor is waiting for you."

Andrade came here, in addition to fulfilling the formalities for starting the war, spying on the military situation is also the meaning of the title.

……

In this era, as well as in the thousands of years before and the centuries after, the side with a strong fortress has a strategic advantage that is difficult to shake.

In ancient siege warfare, for thousands of years, the attacking side spent ten times as much resources and twenty times as many soldiers, and then spent years and months to attack strong cities.People may think that wars are "siege of cities and territories", but in the long history, there are more examples of various tortoises that make the enemy return home.

European lords in the Middle Ages relied on the castles inherited by their families to control their subjects from the Roman Empire to the Industrial Revolution.

Even in later generations when hot weapons have begun to become popular, the Sevastopol Fortress in the Crimean War and the Brest Fortress in World War II are still telling the indispensable influence of the strong city on the war: the so-called The siege, as long as it takes a long time, the attacker's army will definitely produce various cholera, dysentery and syphilis plagues, which is a big killer for all defenders.

In the colonial era of the 17th century, strong strongholds or fortresses were the core essence of ensuring colonial activities.

You only need to build a fort anywhere, set up arquebus guns, and a few more cannons, and you can safely and boldly do business with the natives... The fortress is a trading center, and it can also effectively prevent natives and rogues from various countries who are also colonists A sanctuary that covets attack.

Fortresses built by colonists around the world are almost commonplace in the face of a large number of indigenous sieges, and the number of indigenous people is less than ten times that they are embarrassed to go out.Not to mention, what is close at hand is that the Dutch were besieged by the indigenous empire in Batavia.In history, Governor Cohen died of dysentery during the siege period. However, the natives faced the strong city and finally returned home.

The most important reason why Comrade Zheng Damu was able to leave his name in the annals of history and become a national hero was that he defeated the city of Zeelandia built by the Dutch in Taiwan.However, what most people in later generations don’t know is that Zheng Damu led the army at that time. With a huge advantage in military strength (3+), he besieged the city of Zeelandia for a year, until the Dutchmen in the city (1000+) ) after running out of ammunition and food, he went out of the city and signed the surrender treaty peacefully.

In other words, if the Dutchman has sufficient supplies, he can continue to consume more than [-] times the Zheng army-this is the meaning of the existence of the fortress.

You must know that in areas other than the Ming Dynasty, colonists from various countries are fighting each other all the time, and among them, there are very few battles that can really take down the opponent's stronghold.In contrast, the colonists had to voluntarily abandon a certain stronghold due to various infectious diseases and the blockade of the natives, which was much more than a frontal war.

In fact, the countless defense experiences of fortresses on the coast of Africa, North and South America, and India are the real reliance that contributed to the final decision of the Portuguese in Macau to fight hard.

From the perspective of the Portuguese senior officials in Macau, it is entirely possible to block the enemy for a long time with the help of several forts around the city and the city defense of Macau City itself.This time will be very long, long enough to cause the opponent's army to suffer from epidemic diseases and lose its combat effectiveness... This situation will definitely occur in the hot and humid south of Ming Dynasty.

At that time, everyone can sit down and sign a decent "business" agreement.

Based on this strategic thinking, the two entourages who accompanied Andrade to receive the letter of war today are actually regular Portuguese military officers specially sent by the governor.Both of these officers had previously served in different Portuguese colonies and had extensive war experience.

The main object of their observation today is the combat readiness of the Ming army, but the outcome obviously will not make the Portuguese happy.

In terms of the situation seen along the way, in addition to the expected large number of soldiers, another symptom also shows signs of the long-term war that the Portuguese fear most: the construction site.

Just by the roadside when they came, a large number of migrant workers started their work early in the morning.Although it was not clear what the project was until Andrade and the others left, but no matter what the project was, it meant that the Ming government had mobilized more resources than expected.

In Andrade's view, those migrant workers were laying the foundations for military barracks or military warehouses.In this way, the possibility of the Portuguese facing a long-term war has greatly increased.

"Gentlemen, a long and arduous battle is inevitable, if my observations are followed. Now, take back what you have seen, the governor is waiting for you."

After hearing Andrade's judgment, the other two attendants nodded, and the next moment the carriage started. Half an hour later, Andrade returned to the St. Paul's Fort, commonly known as the Cannon Fort.

At this critical moment of the war, as the commander-in-chief of the battle, Sir Shivela, the governor from Lisbon, must be in uniform to receive first-hand information at the fort.

So at the front of Cannon Taipei, facing the direction of the Ming Dynasty, Shivela got the war document immediately.Although there was no rumble of cannons, at the moment the governor took over the document, Ming and Portugal officially started a war.

……

"Pick it up, the thief chief is picking up the document!"

What the Portuguese didn't expect was that at the moment when the governor took over the document, an excited voice yelled loudly at the gate of the lotus stem five miles away, which represented the start of war.

On the gate at this moment, the big flag was fluttering, crowds of people were crowded, there were many armored people, big bosses gathered, and all the senior military personnel from the Guangdong side of the Ming Dynasty were present.

The big banner inserted in the middle of the gate tower, of course... is not for pulling the cool Zongbing Cao.There is a big "He" written on this big flag, so naturally...it is the general flag of He Rubin and He Zhentai, the commander-in-chief guarding Guangdong in the Ming Dynasty.

The one next to Lord He's general flag is Cao Zhongchen's general Zhang Chao's flag.

Along the left and right sides of the tooth banners of the two big brothers, there is a row of banners of local generals in Guangdong.Among them are not only the garrison general flags of Chaozhou, Leilian, Nanxiong and other places, but also the generals who have never been taken lightly in the East and West Mountains to defend against Yao, and even Lianshan, Luo Ding and other generals who defend Yao with heavy troops. , occupying a place on the city tower at the moment.

As mentioned earlier, the war against Portugal was an excellent opportunity for publicity.

In the [-]th century, when information exchange was underdeveloped, when it was time to get real, the most troublesome thing for the traversers was that the opponent became "reckless" due to poor information.

And this time's war propaganda is a good opportunity for the traversers to solve this problem based on a long-term perspective: to show their muscles to the high-level officers and soldiers in Guangdong, to deter the opponent, so as to reduce the opponent's resistance in a certain "confrontation" state that will inevitably occur in the future Determined to shake the other party's will and create conditions for peaceful negotiations.

So this time in the war against Portugal, General Cao spread heroic posts widely. In the name of the deputy commander of the Guangdong Military Region, he invited as many powerful generals as possible from all over the province to come to be guests, to observe the battlefield... Take care of food and shelter, more Sports activities, reimbursement of expenses, and exquisite gifts after the meeting.

This is the scene where someone shouted on the tower just now.

The one who shouted excitedly was a tall, dark-skinned, big-faced Ming military officer with a big beard——former mountain ginseng general Ma Lianzuo.

During the Wanli period, the Ming court established the Guangzhou Haiphong Tongzhi Yamen in Yongmo, which is only one day away from Macau, and deployed thousands of troops to defend it and set up generals.In the first year of Tianqi (1621), the General Office was moved to the former cottage a few miles to the west of Lianhuastem, and the number of guarding officers and soldiers increased greatly.

Yes, the so-called Qianshan general is the chief military general of the Ming Dynasty who is responsible for the defense of Macau.That is to say, in theory, the defense of the lotus stem and even the surrounding Macau area was originally in charge of the bearded Ma Shenfu.It's just that Captain Ma has now met Commander Cao who mobilized a large number of troops to do things, and his defense duties have been taken over.

However, these did not affect the excitement of Ma Shenjiang today.At this moment, General Ma Shen, with his butt pouted and his horse gait lowered his head, stopped one of his eyes on a Zeiss 150mm 66x digital auto-zoom single mounted on a cast-iron tripod erected at the top of the city. Through the binoculars, greedily staring at every move in the lens.

General Ma Shen not only watched it by himself, but also kept broadcasting the Portuguese governor's every move live: "The enemy chief received the document, and the enemy chief interrogated the three envoys... Ha, the enemy chief threw the document. This is watching from a distance. Our army!"

Chapter 550 Ming-Portuguese War ([-])

The 150mm astronomical telescope manufactured in later generations clearly fed back the image of the Portuguese on the Macau Fort into the eyepiece.

This kind of electronic telescope with a tripod was originally used to observe the stars in the sky, but today it is used to see the red-haired man, and it can be seen equally clearly.

The location of the lotus stem gate is actually near the later Macao port.It is only a straight-line distance of 2 kilometers from the Ruins of St. Paul's where the fort is located.This distance is not a problem for small astronomical telescopes, and observers can clearly see every move on the fort with good visibility.

The reason why the horse ginseng general who looked at the camera yelled was because it was rare and strange.After all, the ancients were used to the days when communications depended on shouting, so it was hard to hide their excitement when they saw clear movements of people a few miles away.

"Hehe, this rascal came from a small school, and he acted recklessly, which made Mr. Cao laugh."

The one who can speak to Cao Zongbing with this equal attitude is naturally He Rubin, the number one player on the field.

He Zhen, who was dressed in official robes, was sitting on the black sandalwood official hat chair.Of course, with He Zhen's coffee position, he must have debuted at the C position and is located in the middle of all the generals in the tower.

Apart from the guards on the tower at this moment, and some unknown merchants "Junwang" sitting in the corner, today's protagonists must be these generals.

Sitting next to He Zhen, Cao Zongbing, the real mastermind behind this big drama, was naturally polite after hearing the words: "Hehe, General Ma Shen is a kind-hearted person, just the true qualities of my generation of warriors!"

He despised General Ma, who had never seen the market before, so He Zhen didn't go to the battlements and pouted his buttocks to look at the astronomical telescope.Fortunately, there is also a good thing in the hands of the boss: a pair of thick binoculars with high power military binoculars.

While playing with Dongdong with both hands, He Rubin's eyes were full of love: "Duandi is amazing! Master Cao's skilled craftsmen from different regions are really useful in the army!"

Unlike those civil servants, most generals, no matter what they looked like on the surface, would definitely not look down on craftsmen in private - anyone who wields weapons and fights against the enemy in person must have a deeper understanding of the importance of craftsmen.

I think that when He Rubin was the general of Zhoushan and the deputy commander of Ningshao, he also personally led the bandits and pirates in the area under his jurisdiction, so he realized the problem immediately after seeing the magic of the telescope today. The key to success: skilled craftsmen from exotic lands.

He Rubin's perception is correct.Because if Daming had a telescope, as a high-level theater commander, he should have had it long ago.Therefore, this thing must have been made by a craftsman invited from outside the domain by Mr. Cao, who is good at making ingenious mechanisms.

In other words, the most technology-sensitive occupation, no matter ancient or modern, is often a soldier.Back then, the one who said, "No matter where Qian Xuesen goes, he is worth 5 divisions, I would rather kill him in the United States than let him leave."

"Good regards, my lord."

Cao Zongbing nodded approvingly after hearing the words: "Manpower is sometimes poor. How can we defeat the enemy without relying on strong ships, giant cannons and magical weapons? Those scholars in the court do not have back pain while sitting and talking, but we are going to take the brothers below into battle. of!"

"Hehe, hehe."

He Zhen, who was still quite chatty at first, heard that the reckless man next to him began to spout the court civil servant again, and he was suddenly shocked, and he didn't dare to talk to him, so he quickly raised his binoculars and looked at the scenery again... The one surnamed Cao can be helpless Brainstorming, why didn't he have the guts? Who made him a member of the system?

About half an hour later, when the generals on the stage took turns to look at the telescope, today's official activities were almost over.So Zongbing Cao got up and greeted everyone to "go downstairs", and was about to move to a nearby town where the officers and soldiers had already registered a large house as the logistics headquarters, and everyone was leaving now, just in time for the luncheon.

What, didn't you say there was going to be a war?

You have to be prepared for war.Although the troops and logistical supplies from the crossing people have been mobilized near the gate, but there are many aspects to consider in the war, not only logistics, but also some unique problems in this era, such as: wind direction.

Whether it was before or after this era, what the people in charge of military travel never expected was that the weather factor had become their most important consideration before combat.

In later generations, humans manipulated satellites, nuclear submarines, stealth bombers, aircraft carriers and main battle tanks, soaring in the sky, the earth and the deep sea.In that era, the impact of the natural environment on war had been minimized, which was beyond the imagination of people living in the seventeenth century.

In this era, whether it is a sea battle or a land battle, any heavy rain or fog may change the outcome of a war.What travelers don't like is precisely windless or light windy weather.

You must know that the next war, strictly speaking, is waged between the "military forces of the Ming Dynasty" and the outside world, the first regular "hot weapon" war in history.Both parties involved in the war will use a large number of black powder weapons, and there will be a huge amount of gunpowder smoke on the battlefield.

This war is very "official", and the traveler also attaches great importance to it, and the smoke of gunpowder is what the traveler hates the most.

The reason is simple: the instinct of the strong side is to minimize the variables on the battlefield.For the weaker side, heavy wind, heavy rain, heavy fog, including gunpowder smoke, are favorable conditions for their own Jedi to come back.

For a long time, the people who have carried forward the black powder army under their hands have summed up the combat experience that is most suitable for the current era based on countless conflicts and wars between large and small and indigenous people in the past few years. After paying the bloody price: Even if you give up the geographical advantage, even if you have to bear the consequences of a drop in hit rate and a longer time limit for the war, you should try your best to choose weather with strong winds to fight with the natives.

Travelers have a relatively long-term vision.In the years to come, the troops will be scattered across the vast East Asia, South Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and North and South America.At that time, there will be no drones or radars to undertake battlefield observation tasks.So from now on, you can't count on those high-tech equipment, and you can't develop habits for this black powder army. Everything should be done as far as possible according to the existing path.

Then, it is time to wait for the wind.

In this asymmetric war, due to the overwhelming numbers and geographical advantages of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese had no depth.Now the Franji ghosts and beasts have retreated into the fort and the city, waiting for the enemy to come.

However, the Portuguese entrenched on the island of Macau then spent the first day of the war somewhat inexplicably—the first day without gunshots.

However, the Portuguese quickly realized that the opponent was not ready yet.

This is how the strange sit-in war started. No war on the southern front?

Fortunately, this situation did not last long. After all, the battlefield is located in the coastal area, so it is not difficult to find a windy weather.

So after another two days passed, in the early morning of this day, the sound of rumbling guns finally sounded from the direction of the lotus stem.

With the preparation time of these few days, it was enough for the "official army" to transport several cannons from Xiangshan County to the gate of Macau by land.The reason why the cannons did not go ashore directly from the pier next to the customs gate was purely because the wooden pier here was too thin to bear the weight of the cannons at all.

In this way, the Zhuges and prefects who continued to come to the city tower early in the morning to watch the mountain scenery can finally feel the real atmosphere of the hot weapon war today.

The artillery battle had begun the moment the sun rose.

The cannon that fired the first shot was an 18-pound conventional naval gun produced by the Kiln District Foundry.

The gun was fired from a gun emplacement 500 meters in front of the gate.

After spewing out white smoke, flames and loud noises, a small black dot visible to the naked eye flew into the air.Under the watchful eyes of countless people, the little dot seemed to fly over a distance of 1500 meters slowly and quickly, and plunged into the Portuguese fort, and there was no more sound.

However, just a few minutes later, the distant cannon responded.A thin puff of white smoke rose, followed by the sound of the cannon, and the same iron egg crossed the space and fell 100 meters away in front of the position.

However, the shells fired by the Portuguese this time missed a lot.For the standard emplacement with hardened ground and surrounded by sandbags, it can only be said that there is no threat at all.

The next moment, the artillery company commander who received the order began to order, and ordered the other artillery pieces that were already in place to start bombarding the enemy.

After seeing this scene, there was a discussion with a relaxed atmosphere on the originally quiet city tower.

The guests were somewhat apprehensive before.After all, strictly speaking, these native generals have not experienced regular artillery battles.And the Franji people in Macau are experts in using guns. Before the Ming Dynasty, they bought guns from others one after another. Even the guns from the sunken ship were fished out to Beijing and received a title.

So when everyone saw that the good start had the upper hand, they couldn't help but feel a little more relaxed.

"The cannon is sharp, my brother will not deceive me." Even the C boss, He Zhen is smiling at the moment: "It's just that according to this general, today's cannon position seems to be insufficient... According to my usual style , I'm afraid Pokong is a bit clumsy?"

"Hahaha! Brother Yin saw it, tall, really tall!"

Zhang Dongdong, who raised his thumb, really admires He Rubin a little now.As expected of a man who has produced military textbooks, there is something wrong with it, which can be seen at a glance.

There are a total of 8 cannons placed before the gate.The calibers of these 8 guns are different, basically covering all the artillery models currently in service.

In other words, these 8 guns were transported from the land today, and they were actually used for fire reconnaissance outside the test guns.After all, no one knows how far the artillery on the opposite fort can hit, how powerful it is, and how many there are.

So what about the real artillery units across the crowd?

The next moment, Cao Zongbing pulled up the thick cuff of his official robe, glanced at the Rolex on his wrist, then stretched out his hand, pointed to the sea in front of the left and said, "Brother Yin, don't worry, the gun is coming."

Chapter 551 Ming-Portuguese War ([-])

Following Cao Zongbing's finger, the spectators turned their attention to the nearby sea.

The sea near the tiny Macau Island is already dotted with boats of all sizes.Accompanied by the billowing black smoke and the blue-black sea water emitted by a few of the ships, for the Portuguese at this moment, it probably feels like dark clouds overwhelming the city.

The sources of these ships are varied.There are high-speed patrol boats with white sails that Ming people are already familiar with, as well as transport ships with a wide belly. There are also private boats that come to watch the excitement and small boats that spontaneously come to sell agricultural products.Of course, the blue-gold gunboat that is blocking the outer port of Macau with dense muzzles protruding is always the most beautiful and eye-catching one.

However, the cannon Cao Zongbing mentioned was not the above-mentioned ships, nor was it the cannon ship that some people thought.The large fort of the Gain Portuguese is located on the highlands in the west of the island, and the battleships on the east sea of ​​the island do not have that far range.

The next moment, the answer appeared.

On the sea not far away, two transport ships breathing black smoke were struggling towards the pier.What caused the two ships to falter was that they were dragging behind them a strange rectangular barge without power.

The three ships moving in the shape of a "Y" arrived near the pier not long after.After this, the rope was released and the two tugboats sailed away.The other tugboat following behind began to slowly push forward with the bow of the barge against the buttocks of the barge.Half an hour later, after a series of fine-tuning, the barge finally successfully docked with the preset landing point near the pier, and began anchoring.

As mentioned earlier, for this war, the main purpose of the traversers is to demonstrate.

Demonstrating not only sea-like artillery and troops, but also logistics, transportation, medical care and other capabilities ahead of this era are also within the scope of the exhibition.

The so-called experts watch the doorway, and laymen watch the excitement.The indigenous elites who come here today come from all walks of life. Many of them may not understand war, but other aspects can also shock them.

In addition, regardless of the indigenous factors, this war is also a test of the traverser's self.

Adhering to the concept brought before the crossing, from a strategic point of view, the Portuguese in Macau City were not taken seriously by the traversers, but tactically they still attached great importance to it: since the time of crossing, the Portuguese who have defended Macao and have complete artillery , is undoubtedly the most "regular" and "modern" enemy encountered by the time-traversing people, and needs to be taken seriously.

This is a "high-tech war".

Therefore, the military attaches great importance to it.There are two reasons. First, this is the first time that troops have attacked a formal bastion. The military wants to use this opportunity to test the troops' attacking capabilities and collect experience for the future removal of bastions built by colonists around the world.

Second, this is a joint sea-land operation.With the logistical advantage at home, troops can practice amphibious landings and transports by the way—there's no better opportunity than this.